Back in February The New York Times wrote about a website called Things Organized Neatly, a Tumblr site that features a piece of myart. On any given day the site may feature an image of white socks on a blue background, on another, a patterned stack of tires or a careful arrangement of baseball bats. The site is overseen by a young Indianapolis designer named Austin Radcliffe, who seems less intent on collecting objects than on collecting images of collections. His site started less than a year ago, but since being written about in The Guardian and elsewhere, it has gained a following in the tens of thousands.

In 2010, The New York Times Books section featured “Secret Historian: The Life and Times of Samuel Steward, Professor, Tattoo Artist, and Sexual Renegade”. The book by Justin Spring, examines the life of Samuel Steward, left, an English professor, novelist and tattoo artist who documented gay life in the middle decades of the 20th century. During his research, Mr. Spring discovered that Steward, who died in 1993, left behind 80 boxes full of drawings, letters, photographs, sexual paraphernalia, manuscripts and other items. Among the artifacts was “a green metal card catalog (above photo) labeled ‘Stud File,’ which contained a meticulously documented record on index cards of every sexual experience and partner — Rock Hudson, Thornton Wilder, ‘One-eyed Sadist’ — that Steward said he had had over 50 years.”